You can also listen to this story via the YouTube link above, or here with a few others - narrated by the wonderful fauxpunker 

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Troll Bridge

Daniel loved his job. Despite being clad in dayglo yellow for safety reasons, and presumably so he could be spotted from low earth orbit; the fact he was wandering around rural Ireland on his own with nothing but the birds and trees for company spoke to his soul.

He smiled happily in the dappled light and walked on through the narrow green lane, the trees casting mellow filtered sunlight on the map in his hand. The dotted red line that denoted the path of the proposed new dual carriageway ran right alongside the old greenway on which he walked. The thin woods on his left would be removed for the construction. The thicker woods on the west side of the greenway would be kept to shield the road from the nearby Jamestown, and placate the local green lobbyists.

Consulting his plan once more, he noted a brook and wonderfully named 'Old Troll Bridge', and chuckled, muttering, "Shame I'm not a Billy Goat," to himself as he walked onwards.

As he meandered on, the trees became more spaced out and massive, and he walked into a scene from a fairytale. Water trickled over mossy boulders and past trees Tolkien himself would have been proud to describe over the space of four chapters. Sunlight trickled into the clearing in dust moted streams that lit patches of ground where gods should stand, or fauns should dance. In the centre of the clearing stood a stone bridge arching over the stream. It was solidly built yet elegant in a simplistic way, and was barely wide enough for anything more than horse and cart, but had obviously been built well and had stood the test of time.

Daniel closed his mouth, which had been hanging open in wonder at the sight, and walked toward the bridge. He glanced at his watch and smiled in anticipation as his stomach growled in agreement. Walking over the bridge to the opposite bank, he reached to his shoulders, lifted his rucksack, and sat on a sunlit boulder by the bridge. Opening his plastic lunchbox, he poured a steaming hot coffee from his flask and sighed contentedly, closing his eyes to feel the sun on his skin.

As he ate, he looked more closely at the bridge. In the sheltered recesses, where erosion and time hadn't managed to smooth the stones, it was evident that at one point in its history it had been finely carved with whorls in the stonework, and lines enhancing the shape of the arch. The arch of the bridge was some five feet above the stream and had obviously been built to cope with a much higher flow than currently meandered under its stones. He finished his lunch and reached into his pack for the torch he kept in a pocket.

He made his way carefully down the steep bank of the stream, the muddy slope making him proceed slowly. After a few seconds of painstaking descent, he stood by the arch, daylight and the woods clearly visible through the narrow span of the bridge. Flicking on his torch, he played the beam over the cut stones of the interior, his mouth framing a silent 'Wow' as the upper arch came into view. Whorls and patterns danced in the stone in ancient Gaelic style. Words were carved deep into the walls of the bridge above the normal water level and he stooped under the keystone to get a better look.

On one side, someone had taken great pains to carve a hideous figure in the limestone, all obtuse angles and disturbing planes. Flickering shadows danced and moved in the wan light of the torch, which chose that moment to flicker out.

Despite the sunlight flickering through the trees a few yards away, the darkness was palpable, and the shadows deepened as he withdrew his face from the carving he'd been studying.

"Bloody thing," he muttered, looking at the torch and tapping it on the stones. He sighed with disappointment and looked up into two orange eyes.

"You must pay the toll."

Daniel staggered backwards, smacked his head on the opposite curve of the arch and sat heavily in the few inches of cold water flowing across the bed of the stream.

"You must pay the toll," the voice repeated in a rasp that bespoke of stone and time. "All who pass the bridge must pay the toll."

"I... er... oh shit..." Daniel scrabbled frantically in his sodden pockets and came out with a piece of string, a penknife and a handful of loose change.

A stone arm detached from the shadows of the wall, the stone grating its protest but moving fast despite the noise. Stubby stone fingers lifted him from the stream and held him suspended with his face mere inches from the unblinking orange eyes.

"He... here..." said Daniel offering the dripping handful of pocket shrapnel to the creature in front of him.

"What is this?"

"Money. A knife. Um... and string..."

"This metal, not money. Money is gold or silver. This rubbish." A stone hand dashed the contents of Daniel's pocket into the stream.

"You pay another way."

"How?" said Daniel, his heart hammering in his chest, the stone arm still rigid, the carbonaceous fingers twined in his clothing.

"I need sustenance," rasped the voice.

"You need food? I have food in my pack, I could get I..." Daniel broke off as the thing shook him so hard his teeth rattled.

"Stupid mortal. I do not eat. I am magical. Not flesh and blood. Gold and silver are tradition, but what I need is sustenance. People must pass, people must feel, must give me emotions."

"You live off emotion?" asked Daniel, his natural inquisitiveness starting to overcome his fright.

"I am stone. I do not feel, but I can feed off strong emotions. Only people have emotions, but no-one passes this way. Not for long time: not until now.

"Enough talk human, you are scared, you have emotions. I will keep you here and feed on you."

"No, no, wait, please," said Daniel desperately as the thing's mouth opened to reveal hollow stone fangs. "I can bring you thousands of humans to feed on."

The stone beast paused and moved its fangs away from Daniel's neck to regard him from a few inches away.

"Why do you lie to me mortal? Accept your fate and be a man."

"I'm not lying," said Daniel. "I can, but you must promise not to hurt anyone. You said you can feed off emotions, yes?" He continued as the thing nodded. "Well if there are thousands, surely you only need a small amount of succour from each person."

"Human, no man has passed this way for a hundred years or more. You humans are few."

"A great deal has changed in a hundred years. There are millions of humans across the country now. I can bring you thousands of people who will pass close by, but you must let me go."

"A deal then," rasped the creature. "But to make sure you come back human, I think a demonstration of power is in order."

The thing leant down and bit into Daniel's shoulder, a scream of agony ripping from the man's throat as his shoulder froze into stone. It let go of his shirt and watched as Daniel scrabbled around in the water crying in pain, moving towards the light from the sun. Unseen under his fluorescent site jacket, grey spread in a toxic rush along his arm until the entire shoulder, arm and hand had frozen into carbonate stillness.

Daniel sat panting in the water, sunlight shining on his frozen hand. The pain had gone for a moment, but sweat stood out on his forehead and his pale face looked up at the creature who was standing free of its stone surround, framed by the arch.

"You have given me terror human. I have power once more. Think of this as a demonstration." It waved a hand and Daniel's arm unfroze, life creeping back into his arm. As Daniel watched, the grey stain moved from his hand and coalesced into stone ring on his little finger.

"That is your reminder mortal. You have made a promise. The ring makes it binding. Do you understand?"

"Y... y... yes," stammered Daniel, I will bring you succour. But it might take years to get it all sorted out."

"I have the patience of stone, human. I can wait..."

~

"I'm sorry love, but I really need to go."

The woman in the passenger seat glared at her husband. The traffic jam had remained unmoving for over an hour, and the man had been getting more and more agitated.

"You're a man, you're designed to pee alongside roads so I suggest you get on with it," she snapped.

"But it's broad daylight!"

"Then jump over the barrier and nip over into those woods over there, use your brain man."

"All right, all right, no need to get snippy." The man opened the car door, glanced at the interminable queue in front of him, and walked over to the metal crash barrier forming the edge of the new dual carriageway.

Some time later he returned to the car with a smile on his face, a smile which faded as his wife glared at him through the window.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?" she hissed at him.

"Hmm? Oh sorry love, it's an interesting little spot over there. There's a pretty little stream, some wonderful trees, and an old stone bridge. It's..."

"Oh great, so you get to have a pee and do some sightseeing, and I get to sit here and listen to Country and Western for twenty minutes."

"Huh? Country and Western?"

"Yes. Just to add to the general misery of this godforsaken spot the radio's gone wrong and all I can get is some eejit wailing about his woman running off with a cowboy from Texas. Oh Jeez, turn it off..."

The man fiddled fruitlessly with the radio for a few more minutes and gave up. He was going to tell his wife what else he'd seen but she didn't seem too receptive to his architectural predilections. Flicking on his phone he looked at the pictures he'd taken of the bridges. The old stone bridge was idyllic, a wonderfully constructed piece of stonework of ancient design. The new bridge over the stream on which they now sat was hidden under the endless bitumen highway. Only chance had led him to see both old and new.

He flicked back to the last image. It was always good to see a modern designer do something different, and the carvings on the new bridge, although slightly odd, were a welcome addition to an otherwise nondescript bridge...

The troll opened his eyes, their orange glow visible in the gloom under the new bridge. He smiled. Arguments and vitriol spilled over from the stationary traffic above. Misery, anger and frustration coruscated through the air, filling his senses and strengthening him. He was rich with power; crackling with energy. It was good to be so alive after so long being dormant, and he knew who to thank. He glanced over at the frozen stone figure of Daniel on the opposite wall. It would take a while, but once his energy was high enough he would complete the transformation and he would have company; a new troll. But he could wait, stone was patient...

~~~ The End ~~~